the metal gods rock show

 

MG: Hi, Sebastian it’s great to chat to you.

 

Bach: Hey how you doing!

MG:  Really good! Its great to chat to you!  “Hell to pay” has been out a short while, how do you feel the media and fans have reacted to the release?

 

Bach: The Media, well the reviews across the board have been incredible so that’s good. I don’t think I have read a bad review. I don’t know what the media consists of anymore in the UK? Am not over there but it seems to be very different to what it used to be like. Its mostly internet things now , like I haven’t heard from our spoken to Kerrang, Classic Rock or the British Metal Hammer.

MG: Personally I think it’s a stunning album, do you have a personal favourite on the new album my Personal favourites are “all my friends are dead” And “Temptation”.

 

Bach: Yeah! It’s a great album that sounds incredible, with outstanding songs and performances it will not let you down! It’s as good as any of my other work including Skid Row albums. It will last for ever! The albums something I am in control of, I am not in control of other things.

 

MG: The album features some amazing guest appearances, are there hopes for some of the musicians such as Duff McKagen and Steve Stevens to join you on stage at some point on your tour.

 

Bach: I don’t think they can afford them, if I was to tell a promoter I wanted them, I don’t see that happening people can’t comprehend that I can’t see that ever happening. If I was to say to a promoter I have Duff Mcagen and Steve Stevens, they would be like when you getting back with the old band!! Like whatever dude!

MG: The album art is really eye catching, and looks like something that should be on an old fashioned vinyl album, can you tell me a bit about the artwork. 

 

Bach: Yeah! It was basically inspired by My one of my dads painting of the demon I had the title “give them hell” You know album artwork is kind of lost, and you are right it would look great on vinyl and maybe that will happen.


MG: Of course no interview can go without the mention of Skid Row, a band who I personally hold close to my heart when you were in the band, do you think you will always be a “Youth Gone Wild?” and would it be nice to play a show without any of your work from your time with Skid Row.

 

Bach: No it would be silly to still be a Youth Gone Wild in my sixties, but its in my spirit always and that song will live on forever, regarding just my solo work That would take a lot of rehearsal. I've been playing SKID ROW songs for 25 or 26 years, so it's like muscle memory to sing those songs. If I was to do a full set of nothing but solo material, it would take about two weeks of intense rehearsals, and bands really don't rehearse that much anymore. [Laughs] It's a crazy thing, but… It's gonna blow people's minds… It blows my mind… I have to pay my band to rehearse. That's the way it is [with] the music industry these days. When I started out, that was unheard of — nobody got paid to rehearse. But somehow nowadays, that's, like, the way it is. So we all tend to rehearse on our own before a tour, and have a day of rehearsal or whatever. It's not possible for me to do a full set of my solo material without a couple of weeks of intense rehearsal, because it's very challenging music and it's not been played live at all, some of these songs from the new record. So that would take a lot of work. I don't know if the fans even want me to do that. So I don't see that happening in the near future. I would love to do that. But that's more up to the fans than me. If the fans demand it, then that will happen.

MG: Tour dates have been released recently, I see you aren’t in Glasgow with the pole in the middle of the stage this time!

 

Bach: Oh yeah! This year we are playing Sonisphere, Islington, Wolverhampton, Manchester, hopefully without a pole in the centre of the stage! Check out all the tour dates on Sebastian Bach.com “It's very frustrating for me, at my age, in my mid-40s, to travel across the world, the planet, to sing on a stage with a pole in the middle of the stage. I'm, like, why do I go through all of this effort for this? [Laughs] I'm too old for that. I mean, maybe when I was 19, or 18, I'd be, like, 'Great,' but in your mid-40s, it's, like, 'What the fuck am I here for?' Honestly. That's just the way it is. People can say, 'Oh, he's a in a bad mood.' I'm not a teenager, I'm in my mid-40s and I don't wanna sing on a stage with a pole in the middle of the stage.

MG: Absolutely! You deserve better than that!

 

Bach: I just don't want to. Let me have a proper stage. And especially when there is a stage in the building that I could go play on, but I am playing on this one. And it's, like, 'What the fuck?' But whatever. You can't change things like that. It's quite a long distance to travel from Los Angeles to Glasgow, Scotland. So I would like to give the fans the best show I can. I can't do that on a stage like in front of my face. It's not the dream that we collectively shared together. [Laughs] I had a different dream. I don't know about you. [Laughs]

MG: Tell me about the upcoming autobiography and will it be Like Motley Crues book?

 

Bach: No I would like it to be a positive, uplifting book. When I read page after page after page of how wasted and fucked up and drunk or high some guy got, after, like, page 75, it becomes sad to me; it's not glamorous or interesting. 'I got fucked up, I got drunk, I got high, I shot heroin, I snorted blow, I got drunk, I got fucked up, I got so drunk...' To me, that becomes boring after chapter 12 or whatever. Like, there'll be some of that in my book, obviously. But anybody can be drunk, anybody can be a junkie. Nobody can play the drums like Neil Peart from RUSH. That's interesting, that's something that's remarkable and rare. And when I read a book by Neil it's not the lowest common denominator, like the dreads of society or the worst things that you can think of. Actually, the opposite of that; it's the most positive things that he [chooses] to put down on a page. I just read Paul Stanley's book, 'Face The Music', and it was incredible; it was a great book. It's very inspiring and uplifting and I couldn't put it down, and I was sad when I got to the last page, 'cause it was a pleasure to read and it was inspiring. There was stuff that I didn't know. I've been a KISS fans since I was a little boy and every page of Paul Stanley's book was things I did not know. I was amazed that he kept such mystery throughout his whole life and career that he was not talking about until now; I was just amazed at that. So I would like my book to have that revelation factor, like, 'Wow! I didn't know that.' And, 'I didn't realize this.' That would be interesting to me.

MG: Four words to describe Sebastian Bach?
Bach: Tall, Honest a Fighter and Norwegian (laughs)

MG: Thanks for your time and good luck tour and I look forward to seeing you live soon.
Bach: Thank YOU !

Interview by: Seb Di Gatto